Name: Ellie (iMusic17)House: SlytherinCharacter Used: Neville LongbottomRatings/Warnings: 1-2nd years, none (not even profanity this time)Word Count: 490A/N: Oh joy. Pre-warning for inner-monologue drama. :/ Also, many thanks to Alex for her help with fact-checking over AIM. And this was very challenging, Barmaids, though really fun. :)

“Muggles are filthy, worthless beings, and must be put in their place,” Professor Carrow lectured, circling the room like a hawk. It was as if she was daring someone to disagree.

Neville sat there, his face blank. Seamus was clenching his fists under his desk, and Neville knew he was thinking about his best mate. Neville wanted so badly to just stand up and scream ‘NO!’. But he couldn’t, or else face the consequences. And with the Carrows … you never knew what they would be.

So he settled for tuning the professor out, and looking around the room. The Slytherins were sitting there with sadistic smiles, as always, but Lavender was slowly reddening in the face, while Parvati sat stone-faced. There were only four seventh-year Gryffindors this year, with Dean and Harry, Ron, and Hermione gone. And with them missing, the group had completely changed.

Without Harry, Ron, and Hermione, Gryffindor, and Hogwarts in general, had seemed to lose its fight. Even with Umbridge, they had still fought. Now, though, no one stood up to the Carrows or Snape. They were too scared. But without that bit of defiance, they had nothing to keep them going. The common room was silent most nights. Everyone either whispered their opinion, or simply remained mute.
And suddenly, Neville’s first class with Umbridge came back to him.

"So we're not supposed to be prepared for what's waiting for us out there?"

"There is nothing waiting out there, Mr. Potter."

"Oh, yeah?" said Harry. His temper, which seemed to have been bubbling just beneath the surface all day, was reaching boiling point.

"Who do you imagine wants to attack children like yourselves?" enquired Professor Umbridge in a horribly honeyed voice.

It is that one word more than the entire situation that hits me, that freezes me where I'm standing. I inexplicably find myself unable to react. This insolent boy stands in front of me, caked in mud and blood and slimy filth, and yet he looks more triumphant than I have felt in a very long time.

Why does it hurt me so? Why does it even bother me? We have enough money to afford another elf. They are not so common now, but the name of Malfoy goes a long way in these things. Narcissa will be close to fury at the thought of what this might do to our reputation – unable to keep an elf – but I know she will quickly find a way to spin it into a compassionate tale that favours us. He was sick; we freed him out of kindness.

Then, finally, my eyes travel to the small figure standing between me and the Potter boy. Though the elf looks defiant as he glares up at me, the tears in his eyes are unmistakable. He is overtaken by joy. By joy of leaving my house, my family.

I asked my wife only once if she wanted to have another child. It was over two years after Draco’s birth, and she locked herself in her room for ten days. She never did give me a proper answer, but I knew not to ask again. For twelve years, our meals have always felt oddly off balance. Whenever I introduced Draco to someone on those days I could take him with me to the Ministry, or when Narcissa dressed him up for one of our dinner parties, I wanted to introduce someone else alongside him. There was always an empty space. There still is.

Not a day goes past when I don’t think about the girl that was taken from me, from us, and any other child that might have been, had this tragedy not occurred. In the dimness of the corridor, I realise that the elf is only the size of a small child, five, six years old at most. My vision blurs. I would be lying if I said I ever treated the elf like my own flesh and blood. I did not. It was always him who felt the full force of my frustration. And yet at this moment, as he is being wrenched away from me, I cannot help being reminded of everything else I have lost, of all that can never be.

The worst part is that Dobby seems happy now.

My only luck is that no one sees what I do next. I hold a high position in society. I am a well-educated man of reason. I don’t allow my face to display my emotions.

There is no way I can control my actions now. I forget that Harry Potter is a boy of eleven years. I lunge forward.

04-30-2012, 07:36 PM

babewithbrains

Name: SorayaHouse: Ravenclaw!Character Used: JamesssssssRatings/Warnings: 1st-2nd; mild profanity, nappies, death, melodramaWord Count: 478A/N: This was tons of fun, barmaids! As usual, apologies for the lateness, and any mistakes in this are my own — I didn’t have time to get this betaed.

“Lily, when are you going to understand?” James shouts, banging his fist on the table. The noise wakes Harry up, but James continues, regardless. “I have to fight! Don't you get it?”

“Oh yeah? And what if you die?” she cries back. “What will I do then? What will Harry do?”

Spluttering, James can’t think of a response. “I—”

“Do you want Harry to grow up without a dad? What do you expect me to say to him when he’s older, when he asks, ‘Why did my dad die’? Because believe me, James, I don't think I’ll know what to say.”

“You tell him the truth,” he replies simply. “You tell him that his dad died fighting, trying to stop the man who wanted to kill him.”

She shakes her head. “And then he’ll ask why I didn't stop you, why you didn't put your own son’s happiness before your own need to fight.” The room is silent except for the sounds of Harry wailing, and Lily meets his eyes as she picks him up, trying to calm him. “I can’t live without you, James. Neither of us can.”

He inhales heavily, watching her return her gaze to her son and open his nappy. James’s mind drifts to the past, to just two years before.

“Mr Potter?”

James immediately rises from his chair, but at the sight of the Healer’s expression, any hope remaining in his heart flickers and dies.

“He’s dead, isn’t he?” he says dully. The question is completely unnecessary; he already knows the answer from the pity in the Healer’s eyes.

“I’m afraid so,” the Healer replies apologetically. “Would you... would you like to say goodbye?”

Taking a deep breath, James reluctantly nods and follows the Healer, bracing himself for the worst. However, nothing, nothing at all, could prepare him for the shock he feels when he sees his father’s cold body, lying perfectly still on the bed, James’s mother, Laura, crying quietly at his side. And though there are tears in James’s eyes, they are frozen there, refusing to roll down his cheeks, and it is all he can do to stay upright and not collapse to his knees then and there.

Somehow, someone senses this, and James feels a chair being pushed behind him. His knees give way and he crumples on the chair, his head buried in his hands, and still, the boiling emotions within him fight to break out past the ice.

“I won’t go,” he says abruptly, walking over to her. She is holding a sleeping Harry tightly to her chest, and he wraps his arm around her waist. “I’ll send a message to Sirius, tell him to find someone else to go with.”

She looks up, and her eyes are shimmering as she whispers, “Thank you.”

04-30-2012, 09:08 PM

Equinox Chick

THANK YOUUUUUU

You've all been amazing and I am so pleased you responded so enthusiastically.

Now, let me catch my breath and see what I can co0me up with for May.

~Carole~

05-02-2012, 07:51 PM

Equinox Chick

Results for Week 4

First Place - Weasley Mom - Hufflepuff.A brilliantly written drabble that fully utilised the prompt. I love Neville in this, and I also loved the way it tied up the film canon ('Luna - I'm mad for her!') with JK Epilogue canon. Well, done.

Second Place - coolh5000 - SlytherinAnother Neville drabble, and another great one. The decision for Neville to hide at this point must have been difficult, Hannah managed to show his dilemma very well.

Honourable Mentions - All of you, for making this a difficult - yet ultimately pleasurable - experience to run and judge.

Points for participation and places in the weeklies will be added to the Spring term. Points for the oneshots will be awarded next term.

(I am in the process of working out all the points so please bear with me.

~Carole~

05-02-2012, 08:39 PM

Equinox Chick

Double posting to show all the points.

the lovely Jess (ToOrNottohavethelongestusernameinhistory) is going to post these for me. :D